Saudi losing $27bn over 'stalled projects'

Riyadh, February 12, 2014

Saudi Arabia incurs a loss of SR100 billion ($27 billion) every year due to the deliberate stalling of projects by corrupt government officials, said a report.

Every year, the government allocates huge funds for implementing projects in various sectors including education, health, electricity, water and transport, but only 25 percent of them are implemented on time, Arab News quoted a study conducted by the Institute of Public Administration as saying.

According to the study, some officials and contractors were making illicit money by "organizing" disruption of projects in a manner that would be difficult to detect.

About 48 per cent of employees working on government projects said they were facing problems implementing them, and a staggering 97 per cent of municipalities said supervisors of projects were not enough, the report stated.

The institute called for quick intervention of the government to prevent project disruption, stating it would have a negative impact on the Kingdom’s development, the report added.